A Loki'd Christmas Carol
by PassionatelyHiddlestoned
Summary: Loki is visited by the three ghosts of Christmas when his old business partner visits him from the grave with a warning. An Avengers parody of A Christmas Carol, they are all the age they are now. *Contains Spoilers for Thor the Dark World* 2013 Christmas Special! *[:{)
1. Coulson's Visit

Coulson was dead, to begin with. If this is not known for sure, nothing wonderful may come of the story you are about to be told. He was dead as a doornail, as a doornail is the most dead any inanimate object could be. Dead seven years today, as a matter of fact. And what day is today you might ask? Why, it's Christmas Eve of course.

Loki pulled his black coat around him tighter and straightened himself up as he walked down the cobble street in town. He was on his way to work, dressed in his usual attire, long black coat with a green tie and grey checkered scarf. He held a gold walking stick, with a blue orb at the top. Everyone around him was celebrating in the festive spirit of Christmas. Bah, thought Loki, Humbug!

He reached his workplace, and took out his many keys. When he was in, he sat down in his chair. The room was cold as cold could be, just how he liked it. He was a frost giant, after all. He was used to worse temperatures.

Bruce Banner sat at his desk, scribbling away in his accounting book. He looked up as Loki sat down. "Hello, Mr. Laufeyson. How is your day?" Loki just looked at him and sneered. "Better than yours, Banner." Bruce just nodded, and went back to work. As Loki took out his workbook, the door opened and a pair of cheery looking people came in, a man with short light brown hair, and a woman with chin length red curls.

Loki looked up. "What do you want?" The two smiled. "I'm Clint Barton, and this is Natasha Romanoff. Are we speaking with Mr. Laufeyson or Mr. Coulson?" Loki chuckled coldly. "Mr. Coulson has been dead seven years this very day." They looked down. "I'm very sorry to hear that. Uh, we're here to ask for a donation." Loki frowned. "For what?" "Well, I'm glad you asked! At this festive season of the year, Mr. Laufeyson, the poor are most needy. We are raising some money to buy them some food and drink in the cold!" Loki just stared at them blankly. "I have nothing to give. I cannot afford to make idle humans merry." At this, Bruce raised his eyebrow from his seat, but said nothing.

Natasha spoke up. "Anything at all would be happily accepted, Mr La-" "I told you my intentions regarding the matter, do not test my resolve," said Loki with a glare. "Now, good afternoon." Clint and Natasha looked at each other, and tipped their hats at him, going out the front door. "Uh, Merry Christmas!" called Bruce after them, and they called the same back.

Loki shook his head, and went back to work. Just then, the door opened again. Loki sighed. "Can't a man get any work done in this place?!" The person who walked in the door was Loki's brother, Thor.

"Ah! Merry Christmas, brother!" Thor said, slapping Loki on the back. Loki hunched over, recoiling from Thor's touch. "Merry Christmas you say? You're so poor, you shouldn't be having a Merry Christmas, or even a Christmas at all!"

Thor just laughed at this. "Come brother, enough sulking! It is the season of festivities, you must partake!" Loki just rolled his eyes, and said to his older brother, "What do you come for, Thor?" Thor smiled. "I've come to invite you to dine with me and Jane tomorrow evening for Christmas dinner!"

Loki growled. "I do not make merry myself of Christmas, brother, you know that." Thor still smiled. "Then think of it as a family reunion." Loki sneered again. "Why ever did you get married to that pathetic earth creature?" Thor shrugged. "Because I fell in love?"

Loki laughed cruelly. "Because you fell in love! That is the only thing more stupid than a Merry Christmas!" Thor just shook his head. "Well, brother, I tried. May you have a Merry Christmas, nonetheless!" Loki pointed to the door. "The door is that way, you may use it now!" Thor hung a wreath he had brought on the door. "And a Happy New Year!" Loki pounded his fist on the desk. "OUT!" Thor whistled a Christmas song as he left.

Loki grumbled to himself as he kept writing in his book, hoping there weren't any more annoying visitors to come. Thankfully, no one else came, and when closing time came round, everything was quiet.

"Sir?" said Bruce meekly. "Yes, Banner, what is it?" "Um… tomorrow, sir, is Christmas Day…" "And?" "And.. well, I was wondering if I could quite possibly have the day off?" Loki looked at him. "Christmas is ridiculous. I don't see any reason I should give you the day off." Bruce looked down sadly, but nodded, getting his things. "But, I seem to be the only one who knows that! Just take the day off…" Bruce's face lit up in happiness. "Oh, thank you, Mr Laufeyson sir, thank you!"

Loki just scowled, and waved him off. "Alright, don't poison me with your joy. Just go home already!" Bruce nodded, and skipped off happily.

Loki got his scarf and left, locking up the business. He walked home in solitary quiet, cold wind biting his nose and cheeks. His black hair fell just below his shoulders, and icicles were beginning to form on the ends of the strands. As Loki approached his home, he looked for his keys. He dug around his pockets for them, and as he was looking, the doorknob morphed into something other worldly.

Loki finally found the key, and went to unlock the door, but when he took a look at the doorknob he shrieked. It was the face of his old business partner, Phil Coulson! But… No, that couldn't be, thought Loki, he's dead, seven years dead! He checked back at the doorknob, but it had returned to its natural state.

Loki shook his head. "Must be all the idiotic cheer clouding my mind," he muttered to himself as he let himself in. The house was as cold as it was outside on the inside, colder even. But Loki didn't mind. As previously mentioned, he was a frost giant, and frost giants were susceptible to cold.

He got his things off, and put on his green housecoat and black slippers. He sat down by the small fire, the smallest fire you would ever see. He had warmed a small amount of pudding in a bowl, and was eating it now. As he ate, he thought he heard something outside his door. He stopped, and listened.

Nothing.

He went back to eating, only to hear the noises again. He got up this time, and put his ear to the door. His face twisted in confusion. It was the sound of chains! Chains rattling, growing nearer and nearer…. Loki ran to the other side of the room, and gripped onto a chair. He ran his fingers through his hair nervously, and waited.

After what seemed like an hour, but was really only 3 minutes, the door crashed open. Loki screamed, and hid behind the chair. Something walked in the door. Loki peeked his head above the chair to see who, or what, it was.

It was Coulson! But… it wasn't Coulson. It was the ghost of Coulson. Loki's eyes widened, and his mouth dropped. "Wh- who are y-you?" Loki stammered as he took a step closer. "Why not ask me who I was?" said the apparition.

"Alright, fine then blasted, who were you?" The ghost sat down. "Don't you recognize me? It's me! Phil!" Loki just shrieked at this, and hid behind the chair again. Coulson just laughed. "Don't worry, Loki, I'm not gonna try to haunt you or anything. I just came to warn you." Loki looked at him. "Warn me? Warn me of what?" Coulson patted the chair next to him. "Come on. Sit down and I'll tell you." Loki nervously made his way over to the chair beside the ghost, and sat down. "Whew! It's cold in here, don't you know what heat is? Geez!" Loki raised an eyebrow.

"Do you believe in me?" asked Coulson. "Of course I do, I've seen things more extreme than apparitions before, I'll tell you!" said Loki. "Good. Then I'll start." He gestured to his chains. "These are all the wrongdoings that I have committed in my lifetime. I was cruel to people who needed kindness, and I was bitter toward the poor. This is my eternal punishment."

Loki stared down in horror at Coulson's chains. "But… but you were a good man of business, Phil-" Coulson chuckled. "Business? Humankind was my business! I should have paid more attention to the needy!" Loki shrugged. "Why? We have more than them, so should we not be rejoicing?" "No, Loki! Don't you see? If you continue on as you are now, as I was, then you will have longer, heavier chains!"

Loki shuddered to think. "What is your purpose here, apparition of the past?" Phil turned serious. "You will be visited by three ghosts." Loki looked terrified. "More of you? Oh by Odin, please no!" But Phil nodded. "If you don't go with them, you will be doomed to an afterlife as mine! But I must leave now, Loki. My time is nearly done. It was good to see you again, ol' buddy." Loki nodded slowly. "Farewell, Loki!" he called as he left, out the door again, dragging his chains behind him.

Loki just sat there for a second, then shook his head. I won't go with the other ghosts, I just won't! he decided. He got into bed, and blew out the candle on his nightstand. But he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling he had.


	2. Loki's Past

When the clock struck 1:00 in the morning, the bell chimed, waking Loki out of his sleep. He opened his eyes, and noticed a faint glow from outside of his bedcurtains. He hadn't left the fire on, so…. Then he remembered! The ghosts!

Loki nervously oulled back the curtains, and was temporarily blinded by a brilliant glow. The glow faded away, and left a man standing, leaning against the wall with one leg up against it, his arms crossed. He was wearing a red, white, and blue uniform, and had short blonde hair.

"Hey! Loki is it?" The man asked, walking over. Loki nodded, and asked, "Who are you?" The man smiled warmly. "I am the ghost of Christmas past, but people call me Steve Rogers. I am from a long time ago, and can remember things from a very long time in history."

Loki gulped. "And I suppose you're here to take me through my past? To change me? To make me feel again? I'm afraid that won't work, Steve Rogers, as I am beyond hope now. I've been betrayed, broken, and scarred. There is no chance for me." Steve smiled. "We'll see about that."

Steve took Loki's arm, and they both vanished in a flash of white light.

They appeared in a palace, a golden palace. Loki looked around nervously. "So you know where you are?" asked Steve. Loki looked down. "Yes."

They advanced through the palace, and stopped at one room, where a man with shoulder length white hair was sitting, and celebrating with a young boy. The boy had shoulder length golden hair, and was grinning from ear to ear. "Well done, my boy!" shouted the man, who was the father, and picked the boy up and spun him around.

Loki squeaked. "This was the day of my commencement in studies of Magic. But it was also the day when Thor slayed his first monster." Just then, someone else walked into the room. It was a boy, with black gelled back hair. He was grinning happily, holding a certificate. "Father, father!" the boy shouted, tugging at the man's arm. "I am truly a god now! A god of deception and trickery, I learned all my magic!" the boy said happily.

The father just looked at the boy, and smiled half-heartedly. "That is good, Loki. But what we should really be celebrating is Thor's first beast he has slayn! We will feast on it tonight!" he said, throwing the first boy in the air.

The younger boy looked down, the smile disappearing from his face. He walked out of the room, ignored by his family, and once he was outside, he sat on a stair and cried. He buried his head in his hands and cried and cried.

Steve looked at Loki. "You never forgot that day. The day you realized indefinitely that you would always be second to your brother." Loki's eyes watered, watching the younger version of him cry on the steps. "I never did forget this. I was hurt deeply by Odin's shunning." Loki sniffled. "Take me away. I don't wish to see this memory anymore," he said, turning away.

Steve shrugged. "Okay then." They, once again, vanished in a flash of white light, and appeared in another memory. Loki looked around. They were on Nidavellir, a realm of elves. They were battling a huge monster, that was very big and strong. Loki and Thor were now young men, fresh out of Asgard, adventuring with their friends.

Loki was using his abilities of deception to lure the beast to Thor, and Thor summoned lightning from the sky, electrocuting it. Sif, Volstagg, Hogan, and Fandral rushed over to Thor and lifted him up, cheering. "All hail the god of thunder!" they cheered.

Loki just stood by himself, left out. He was the one who had distracted the monster to give them the opportunity! But no one recognized him, as usual. Loki glared jealously at the back of Thor's head. Thor always got the celebration, everyone always worshipped Thor, never Loki. He clenched his jaw, and tightened his hand into a fist, green mist swirling around it. Then he thought twice, and stopped.

He sighed. No matter how much attention Thor got and Loki didn't, they were still brothers.

The older Loki regarded his young emotions. "This is what always happened whenever we would go on adventures. I would always get upstaged by Thor. I desperately wished to have at least one victory over him, but tat day never came."

Steve put a hand on Loki's shoulder, and they vanished from this memory.

They appeared in an underground setting, with a large staircase and a podium holding something blue and glowing.

Loki's mouth dropped open. "No, Rogers, not here! Please, I cannot bear to see this memory again!" Steve just looked on solemnly to the scene. "You must look, Loki."

Loki swallowed, and stared at the two people standing there. It was himself, now an adult, and Odin. Loki's face was twisted in sadness. "No, you took me for a reason, what was it?" he said to Odin. Odin just stared, not speaking. Loki started to cry. "TELL ME!" This brought the older Loki to tears. Odin sighed.

"I took you from the war in hope of one day uniting our worlds." Loki stared at him in disbelief, a high sound emitting from his lips. "So, I'm just another stolen relic? I-I-I'm the monster who parents, tell their children about at night? You know it all makes sense now, why you favoured Thor, all these years, and no matter how much you claimed to LOVE me! You couldn't have had a frost giant sitting on the throne of Asgard!" Odin fell down on the steps, clutching his side, as Loki stood over him.

Steve waved his hand, and the vision disappeared. Loki's eyes were wet. "Your father didn't want to tell you because he wanted you to feel the same as everyone else!" Loki scoffed. "He ignored me all these years, and now he finds compassion? Ha. He's an old man and a fool." Steve raised his eyebrows, but waved his hand again, showing another memory.

"You were in love once, right?" asked Steve. Loki blushed. "I'll take that as a yes. Her name was Darcy. You loved her more than life itself. But when you were banned from Asgard, everything changed. Your heart iced over, and you lost the one delicate creature who truly cared about you."

A vision appeared in front of them, of Loki sitting at a desk in his work. Darcy came in the door. "Loki? Oh there you are! Are we still on for dinner tonight?" Loki looked up, his expression hard and unfeeling. "I don't think so. I don't feel very good." She threw her arms up. "That's what you said last night! Look, Loki, I feel like you're growing apart from me! Is everything okay?"

Loki looked up at the last part, now angry. "Am I okay? AM I OKAY? No, I am not OKAY, Darcy, I have been cast out of my birth planet and hated all my life! Do you know what that's like? No, I suppose not, because you're perfect! Just leave me alone, Darcy. And don't ever come back!"

Tears rolled down Darcy's cheeks. "Loki, please-" "GO!" shouted Loki, kicking his chair. Darcy sobbed as she ran out his front door. After she was gone, Loki sat down, laying his head on the desk, and starting to cry.

Older Loki took a deep breath after seeing this, a feeling of guilt and regret washing over him. Steve waved his hand, showing one last memory.

Frigga was standing in offense position against the dark elves in the room, one of them Malekith, and was protecting Jane, who was behind her. Loki looked confused, and turned to Steve. "Where am I?" Steve looked at him gravely. "In the dungeon."

Realization washed over Loki's face, and he shook his head. "NO! No, Rogers, you musn't show me this! Have you no mercy? PLEASE!" Steve turned Loki around to face the scene. Loki squeezed his eyes shut, but Steve opened them.

Frigga slashed the elves with her sword, and suddenly, the larger one grabbed her and picked her up. "You have something of mine, child," Malekith said, going over to Jane, "Give it back." He reached forward to Jane, but his hand went through her, and the vision of the woman dissipated. "WITCH!" The elf shouted at Frigga, who just smiled. "It is mine, Queen of Asgard," said the head elf, circling Frigga. "I'm going to give you one last chance to tell me- where is the Aether?." Frigga just shook her head, struggling against the grip she was in. "I'll never tell you."

The elf nodded. "I believe you." In one swift move, the large one holding her took out his sword and stabbed it through Frigga's middle. Loki immediately started to cry when he saw this memory, and broke down to the ground, holding his head in his hands. "HOW could you show me this, Rogers? Have you no mercy?" Steve stood Loki up, and brought him close to the dying Frigga. "Listen."

Loki was forced to lean close to Frigga's mouth, and heard as her last words were uttered as Thor yelled at finding her, knocking the elves around. "Loki... I know you're good," she sputtered, and died.

Loki took a step back, and covered his mouth. "I'm sorry mother. I'm so sorry," he whispered. Steve came up behind him. "I believe you spoke to her not long before this," he said. Loki nodded. "I had told her she... wasn't my mother." Steve waited, letting Loki cry for a moment more, then touched his arm, flashing them back to reality.

Loki looked up from his hands, and realized he was back in his bedroom, on his bed, left alone to think of the sad memories of his past. He dried is eyes with his bathrobe, and got back into bed.


	3. Loki's Present and Future

Loki was awakened again by light, this one not as bright as the last, more warming this time. Loki yawned, stretched, and got up, gravitating to his living room, where the light was coming from. "Hello, Loki!" a voice boomed from the room. Loki grumbled groggily, and rubbed his eyes.

There, sitting in a chair, was Volstagg, one of the warriors three from Asgard. Loki's mouth dropped. "Volstagg?" Volstagg laughed heartily, eating some cookies. "Good to see you, my friend! Now, let's get going. We have a lot to cover tonight!" Loki just stared, then followed him.

"Christmas is a time of year when all humans get together and share in joy and laughter!" Loki scoffed. "Yes. I've noticed." "Well, why don't we go see what some people are doing this fine Christmas, shall we?" Before Loki had any time to protest, Volstagg had transported them to a house filled with cheery people.

Loki immediately recognized it. It was his brother and Jane's home! There seemed to be some sort of game going on. He looked around the room, surveying who was there. It looks like Thor had invited Sif, Fandral and Hogan, and Jane had invited her best friend….. Loki's heart stopped. It was Darcy. Living, breathing Darcy sitting right there in front of him.

She was laughing along with everyone, not her same carefree snorting laugh, but the laugh of someone who had been hurt and was still recovering. It hurt Loki to see her like this.

"Let's play a new game," boomed Thor, smiling. "Yes, a game Thor, those are the best on Christmas!" said Jane, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Alright… guess!" Everyone looked deep in thought. Hogan spoke up. "Is it… vicious?" Thor laughed. "Can be." "Does it love a good fight?" asked Sif. Thor thought. "It never was one for physical ability." Loki started to get into it. "Can it talk?" he asked, but of course no one heard, since Loki and Volstagg were but shadows.

"Is it dashingly handsome?" asked Fandral. "Many might say, yes." "Does it like people?" "Oh, certainly not." "Could it be described as Hot or Cold?" "Cold, in more ways than one." "Wait! I know it!" said Hogan. "Sometimes vicious, not very physical, many think it's handsome, and cold! It's your brother, Loki!" "Yes!" They all erupted into laughter, and Loki looked down, hurt.

"Come, Loki. We have much to see," said Volstagg. They next appeared in a smaller home, the home of a family. Two children ran through the small place, one with an oversized lab coat on, and the other with a pair of science goggles. "Hey! Stop playing with my stuff!" said Bruce Banner, laughing.

The kids laughed. "Sorry Daddy." Bruce turned to his wife. "Betty, I promise one day my invention on Gamma radiation will make us a better life. But until then, I must keep working for Mr. Laufeyson." She hugged him. "Bruce, I couldn't care less about the money. All I care about is our family, and… us." She kissed him. "But I do wish you wouldn't have to work for that unfeeling, cold Mr. Laufeyson!" Bruce rubbed her shoulders. "Please don't speak ill of him on Christmas Eve, darling. All he needs is a friend."

Then, a younger boy with wavy light brown hair and blue eyes came down the stairs with a limp and a crutch. "Hello, father, mother! Oh, dinner smells wonderful!" Bruce picked him up. "Harley! Merry Christmas, Harley!" "Merry Christmas Dad." He picked up a pink watch from the ground, and laughed. "Annie? You dropped your limited edition Dora the Explorer watch!" She came and took it. "Thanks, Harley!"

Volstagg waved away the vision. "You see, Loki? They hardly earn anything, but they're one of the happiest families in town!" Loki thought about this. "Will… will the child be alright?" "Who, Harley? I cannot say. That is the future. I am the present." Loki sighed. "Lead on, Volstagg. I want to go back to bed."

Volstagg brought them to one last vision of the present. "Where are we now?" "The town orphanage." Loki looked around at the young children who didn't have any parents. "These are the children who were unwanted by their birthparents, and are living here to survive. For some of them, something has happened to their parents." Loki looked around, seeing a boy that looked similair to him when he was young.

"You see Loki, you were once one of these children. Cast out by Laufey, and adopted by Odin. You would have gone your whole life without a parent who even remotely loved you, and you would not be here now, to hate him."

Loki looked at the ground. Maybe Volstagg had a point. But he still refused to believe Odin took him out of compassion.

Volstagg waved away the vision, and brought them to a cemetery. "Why are we here now, Volstagg?" Loki asked, looking around the foggy graveyard nervously. "Now it is time to see your future," Volstagg remarked, and with that, disappeared into the mist. Loki looked all around him. The fog was getting so thick, he could barely see in front of him!

Then he saw a shadow. A shadow of a metal suit, and a hand pointed at his back. Loki turned, and came face to face with a man made of iron. Loki shrieked, surprised at the sudden appearance, and stepped back. "Who are you? The apparition of what is to come?" The iron mask lifted, and the man underneath smirked. "Yeah. I'm Tony Stark, some call me the merchant of death. I'm a man of the future. I am beyond anyone in my time in my technical abilities, so I can see the things that are yet to be."

The man gripped Loki's arm, and blasted off into the sky with him, flying through the air using his suit thruster technology. They landed in a the part of town that Bruce Banner and his family lived. Loki managed out a small smile. "Ah. The home of my clerk. The secret scientific genius. Please, take me in, spirit." The guy just laughed at Loki's eagerness, and brought him in.

But the small house wasn't filled with the regular cheeriness of the kids running about and Bruce and Betty kissing. A sort of sadness hung in the air. "Why is it so quiet, Stark?" asked Loki. Tony just pointed to an emty chair by the fireplace, and a special edition Dora watch.

Loki covered his mouth. "Oh no. No! Not poor Harley!" Tony nodded, then shrugged. "But what's it matter, right? You can't afford to give a little money to people like him, so why should you care?" Loki gulped, feeling guilty for saying that earlier.

He watched through the window as Bruce and Betty came downstairs, not their usual selves, jumpy and cheerful, but rather sombre now. They looked truly exhausted, like a huge burden of sorrow was placed upon them. Betty started to cry, and Bruce hugged her tight. Loki turned away from the window.

Tony took his arm again, and blasted off to a different part of town. They arrived at two people talking. There was a bald man with an eye patch, and a woman with dark brown hair tied back into a tight bun. "I don't see how anyone who would want to go to his funeral," said the woman.

The man nodded "I agree with you, Hill. He was such a mean guy. But I wouldn't mind going to it…" Hill raised her eyebrow. "If they have some snacks!" Hill laughed, and they walked off.

Loki looked down. "This man wasn't very loved in life, I suppose?" Tony nodded slowly. "I guess you could say that. He might not have been loved, but he had a few people who cared about him."

At this, Tony took off with him one last time somewhere. But when they landed, they weren't on Earth. They were on Asgard!

Loki looked around. Many people were gathered, some crying, everyone holding flowers with a candle in the middle. They were all looking in the same direction. Loki followed their gaze, and saw they were looking out to the waterfalls. He immediately recognized what was going on. A funeral was taking place, and the body was about to be set on fire as it drifted down the river in the boat.

He looked up to the front onlookers, and recognized Thor, Jane, and…. Darcy was there. Why was Darcy there? She was crying. Loki turned shakily to Tony. "Stark, I fear to ask, but I must know. Who… is that man in the boat? Who was the man the humans spoke of?" Tony just looked at him for a moment, trying to decide if he should tell him.

Loki looked at him, desperate now as he began to suspect. "TELL ME!" Tony sighed, and flew them over to the floating body. Loki's eyes were squeezed shut, but when Tony stopped at the body, he opened them slowly. There, lying motionless in the boat, was…. Him!

Loki shook his head, eyes starting to water. "No. No, this isn't possible… I can't… this can't be me! I'm young, I've got so much longer… Please! Stark, please tell me I can save myself! I realize now that my family was only trying to make me feel more welcome into the universe! I will be good, like Frigga knew I was! Oh, please, give me another chance. Please!"

Tony looked hard a t Loki, and powered up his reactor, ready to set the ball of magic powder that came soaring over to the body on fire. The ball came closer and closer, Loki gave one last protesting shriek as Tony blasted the reactor.


	4. A Good Man

Loki's eyes were tightly squeezed shut as he fell into his bed sheets, tangled up. He opened his eyes slowly, and jumped out of bed. "Oh! OH! I'M ALIVE!" he shouted happily as he jumped on the bed, up and down. The maid, Maria Hill came in, and when she saw him bouncing like that, she just rushed out.

Loki giggled madly, and did a flip off the bed. He opened the window, and shouted out the window. "WHEEEW! HELLO LONDON!" People waved from down below. One person yelled "Merry Christmas!" Loki jumped in. Christmas! So he hadn't missed it! Loki laughed excitedly as he ran downstairs. I'll go and buy the biggest pudding I can find, and bring it over to Banner's house myself, he thought happily to himself.

He ran down the streets, tipping his hat to people as he went. Suddenly, he passed the two people who had come by his office the night before for a donation. When they saw him, they looked at each other, and quickened their pace, but Loki put out his walking stick, stopping them.

They looked at him nervously as he approached. When he smiled broadly, they looked puzzled. "I would like to extend my deepest apologies for my behaviour yesterday. I was not in my right mind! Here. I want you to have this for your charity." Loki gave them 5 sacks full of gold and jewels from the finest riches of Asgard.

They stood there speechless. Finally, Natasha spoke. "Oh my, thank you so much, Mr. Laufeyson!" Clint just nodded, smiling. "You're oh so welcome!" Loki chuckled giddily as he kept walking. He had no idea how good it felt to be nice to someone!

He bought the pudding from the store, and admired it. It smelled delicious, and was twice the size of young Harley!

He hid the bag behind his back as he approached Bruce's door. He put on his serious, cruel face, as he was planning to pretend he was still as mean as ever then surprise them.

He knocked once, and Betty answered. She frowned at him. "What do you want?" "I wish to speak with Bruce right away." She shook his head. "I'm afraid that won't be possible, he's busy. It's Christmas, after all, and while I know you don't care, we celebrate it very well in here, so good day to you!" She began to shut the door in his face, when Bruce came rushing down the stairs, carrying Harley on his shoulder. He saw Loki standing outside, and raised his eyebrows in surprise, setting Harley down and coming over.

"Uh, forgive Betty, I'm not busy at all, Mr. Laufeyson, sir," he said, shooting Betty a glance. She just rolled her eyes, and began to walk away. "Yes, well. Banner, you didn't show up at work this morning!" Bruce looked dumbfounded. "Um, sir, you gave me the day off?" Loki laughed coldly. "I don't think I-" "Oh no, but you did sir!"

Loki gave a fake sigh of exasperation. "Banner, you leave me no choice. I must tell you to-" Betty came rushing back to the door. "Leave right now, Mr. Laufeyson! Any bad news can wait 'til tomorrow!" She looked ready to sob.

"I'm afraid I must tell you," Loki raised his voice, "To partake in this wonderful pudding I got from town. Smells lovely, hm?" They just stared at him. He laughed. "Come, surely you'll have enough room for this in that wonderful dinner?" They just stood, open mouthed. Finally, they shook themselves back, and started to smile.

"Oh, Mr. Laufeyson, thank you so much! You must come in!" Loki stepped in for a moment. "I've also come to tell you that I know someone who you can present your Gamma studies idea to in the scientific business. Your family will be quite well off, as soon as your idea gets discovered! And Harley here will be able to receive the right medical care he needs to grow up big and strong!"

Bruce stuttered. "This is, this is beyond my wildest dreams. Thank you! Please come in and share Christmas dinner with us!" Loki smiled. "Thank you, but I have somewhere else to be." He nodded a farewell to the overjoyed family, and left.

Loki came up to the door, more nervous than he had ever been in his entire life. He was about to knock on the door, but then stopped himself. What if they still hated him? Or worse… what if she laughed in his face? He turned away, then turned back. No, I've got to try, he thought. He took a deep breath, and knocked on the door. He smoothed his hair, and walked in when the maid opened the door.

The maid gestured to which room they were in, the sound of lively music playing, and the sound of a game being played. "Could it be described as Hot or Cold?" "Cold, in more ways than one," Loki heard being spoken through the door, and knowing as if the lines had been scripted what was to follow. He bit his lip, thinking about turning back, but decided against it.

He pushed open the doors, and the room went silent. After a few seconds, Loki looked nervously to Thor. "Thor. I am so sorry for everything I've done. I know now that all of you were there for me, I just didn't see it before. Is the invitation to dinner still standing, Brother?" he asked nervously. At this Thor beamed, coming over and wrapping Loki in a tight bear hug. "Of course, brother! We would have missed your company!" Jane smiled a hello at him, Sif, Hogan, and Fandral all waved, and Volstagg winked.

Then Loki's gaze met Darcy's. She just seemed to sit there for a minute, wondering what she should do. Loki cleared his throat. "Darcy. There are no words to even begin to express how much I have missed you and yearned for you these seven years. I don't expect you to forgive me, but- " His speech was interrupted when she flew out of her seat and embraced him.

His eyes widened, not used to being hugged so much. After what seemed like a blissful eternity, she pulled away from the hug, and whispered in his ear, "I forgave you that day, seven years ago. All this time I've just been waiting for you to forgive yourself." He smiled, and they kissed, a kiss that had fulfilled years of waiting.

Thor summoned for the music to start again. "Come! Let us rejoice in the reunion of my brother and his love!" They all rose, and began to dance. Loki, being the best dancer, took the spotlight with Darcy, who was laughing her old, happy snort laugh.

That night had brought realization to Loki, but it wasn't that night that changed him. He always knew deep down that he wasn't alone, but the trauma of everything that was going on had clouded his perception of it all. Going through the events of his life had only brought him to think…

"I am good, Mother. You were right all along."


End file.
